


His Boys

by Eugene_Kline_Sims



Category: Panic Room: House of Secrets
Genre: (Mentioned) bi Jim, Adopted Jack and Jim, Father Bill, Gen, Strong Language, mentioned child abuse, read with caution!, touch starved jim, touches heavily on mental health issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 06:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13852422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eugene_Kline_Sims/pseuds/Eugene_Kline_Sims
Summary: Bill Gordon always knew he would look after Jack Firewood. Jim’s Firewood was never part of that deal until now.READ TAGS!





	His Boys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MaidenVKPY](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaidenVKPY/gifts).



> I needed this okay. I have no self control and I needed this. MaidenVKPY and I were talking a lot on Tumblr about Panic Room and I wrote this while she was cooking. I hope you all like this.
> 
> As for Maiden! Thank you so much for listening to my rambling and bouncing ideas off of me also. It’s been really fun! I kinda want to go back to this verse but expect some more Panic Room from me soon!
> 
> Now that official business. *points to self* me no owny *points to you* you no suey.
> 
> In all seriousness though I don’t own anything. If I did own Panic Room it would be Jim centric with angst after angst.
> 
> Again this deals heavily with child abuse, mental issues and strong language. Please if any of this makes you uncomfortable go back. Your safety is so much more important to me!

Bill Gordon had never really thought much of the eldest Firewood. All he knew was that the boys had a falling out (and that immediately made him a bad guy in Bill’s books). Other than that he knew the basic information. Jim was a doctor who was slowly getting his degree to become a Psychiatrist. He also never lost his temper with his brother. As a matter of fact, Jim had never heard the doctor raise his voice. He always talked in soft tones. He was gentle and didn’t care if you were an Undergrounder or Follower.

He was drastically different from Alice. No, Jim was more interested in the psychologist standpoint of the Puppeteer. Treating the man like an enigma. All in all despite the thing with his brother. Jim wasn’t a bad guy. Maybe misguided but that’s about it. When Jack made his desperate bid for freedom Bill saw Jim in a new light.

Jack was confused and hurt. Jim, it seemed never truly had friends. His brother was his only friend. Jim had needed his brother here and with Jack, in a coma, it was slowly killing the doctor. Jim was too good for them. He cared. He cared to damn much and the Followers didn’t deserve him and the Underground sure as hell didn’t deserve him.

When he saw Ryan take up looking after the elder Firewood he breathed a sigh of relief. Though Bill wanted to look after him he knows Ryan was the best option for the time being. Screw the factions. Both Firewood brothers would be looked out after by him.

Jack had never really mentioned his family. In passing, yes but rarely outright. When he did the reports were less than stellar. A father that was never home and an alcoholic for a mother. Jack had a saving grace by being his father's favorite. Jim had no such luxury. The only thing going for him was the fact he was the eldest and despite his misgivings about his brothers about the beginning. Bill could always see the way Jack’s has shock when he mentioned what Jim had endured under their parents ‘care’.

“When mom was really drunk or dad was really mad. They’d lock Jim outside the house in the middle of the night. Or lock him in his room if the neighbors got suspicious and leave them there for weeks at a time. Jim was smart but God he missed several days of school back then.”

“I feel shitty about the way I treated Jim when I was a kid. Yeah, he’s a bit of a jackass now but when we were kids. Was I the worst. That’s why he’s afraid of loud noises you know? I would set off fireworks in the house when I was pissed at him. Always behind him or underneath and my parents always encouraged. By the time I was eighteen Jim couldn’t look at fireworks without having a full-blown panic attack. He’s better now but he couldn’t do it for years.”

“When Jim came out as bi and wanting to study to be a doctor. My dad told him to get the fuck out and my mom said she didn’t know him anymore. After that any mention of Jim was taboo. He didn’t exist anymore. Pictures were burned or cut up or stored away. I managed to sneak a few away with me to Paris.”

Bill couldn’t imagine the way Jim was feeling now. That explosion had been exactly that. An explosion and with the brothers on better terms seeing his brother nearly dead on the floor must have been hell on Jim and then there was Feather. Feather who had everyone who cared about. Feather who He felt responsible with.

Being a doctor or any profession where a person's life literally resides in your hands is never easy. Bill should know he had worked as a detective before. He had seen good people and not so good people die. He couldn’t help but think what would have happened if he made a different choice.

Jim was surely no different. There were so many suicides within the house and so many people succumbing to there blood loss. It was hard for the doctor not to have a little blood on his hands and know it was much more personal and it was no wonder it was pushing him over the edge.

When Feather and Jack wake up. Jim finally allows himself to rest. He sleeps next to Tan with the Asian keeping a silent vigilance over the boy. Compared to Bill that was all Jim was a boy. Tan noticed him from the corner of her eyes and murmurs some words of wisdom before shooing him away.

“Family doesn’t end in blood.”

With that, he walks back down to the basement. Her words echoing in his mind. ‘Family doesn’t end in blood.’ Much more at ease now he goes to sleep.

Jim refuses to leave his side and it’s no wonder he leaves the Followers. He joins the Underground. Of course, people are suspicious. After all, it’s not every day a new faction leader switches sides but Jim holds steady. The rats are cautious but are slowly starting to welcome him in. Jack stands by his brother's side throughout it all. Of course, Alice had been stoking the flames of Jim leaving and now the Followers actively avoided him and the death toll rose up. Much to Jim’s distress. It’s when Jack finally managed to get away from his brother. (To Jenny) That things finally boil over.

Jim’s working hunched over himself and he can hear the young man crying. Jim was furiously trying to wipe his eyes down which only made the tears worse. Sobs and hiccups left his mouth. Bill wordlessly sets down next to him and holds his arms open. He had comforted plenty of people before. It wasn’t his strong suit but if it was one of the Firewood’s Bill would make it his thing.

Jim sorta flung himself into Bill’s arms and shook. Bill’s shirts getting wet but he doesn’t care. He allows Jim to weep into him. After a while, the doctor has stopped sniffling a little and simply basked in Bill’s touch.

“I’m sorry Bill.”

“It’s fine Jim. Sometimes people just need to cry. That doesn’t make us any less of a person. Do you want me to let go?”

“No please!”

Jim says it quickly and he sounded terrified at the prospect of losing the contact Bill was providing. Bill allows him there wordlessly tightening his grip. After a while, Jim pulls away.

“Thank you, Bill. You're the first the second person besides my brother to give me a hug. Jenny was the first.”

“What about your parents?”

Jim tenses ever so slightly then shakes his head. He’s about to respond when Jack enters the room. He swings his elder brother under his arm and uses him as a prop. Jim flails for a second before laughing at his brother. Bill watches on amused and feels his heart swell.

Was this fatherly pride?

If it was Bill was proud to be called the boy’s father. Jack was teasing his brother and their small group had been joined by Jenny, Feather, Lance, and Nat. It wasn’t the same with the others. The Firewood boys were something that was innately his and he’d be damned if they were taking from him.

After all, he was their father and they were his boys. The coming years would be rough but they would weather it together as a family. Jim would deal with his internalized insecurity and Jack would have his own issues to combat and Bill wasn’t exactly free from his own demons but they were officially his boys.


End file.
